Intentional Parenting

Several years ago, my wife Julie and I were invited by some friends of ours to attend an Intentional Parenting conference that was being hosted at their church. At the time, I remember feeling utterly exhausted and defeated as a parent. Much like a deflated Tom Brady after Sunday’s Super Bowl game, raising kids has a way of knocking the wind out of us at times. If you’re a parent, you’ve been there. As parents of two crazy, beautiful boys (Hayen, age 12; Asher, age 8), we’ve seen our fair share of ugly losses. Some days, life seems to blitz our best-laid parenting plans and strategies from all sides. No matter how many books or blog posts we amass, there is no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to raising kids to love and follow Jesus.

Then again, in keeping with the sports metaphor, maybe parenting isn’t about trick plays or complicated schemes at all. What if it’s about building a tried-and-tested playbook for raising passionate Jesus followers?

In hindsight, that’s exactly what Julie and I walked away with when we attended the Intentional Parenting conference years ago. Hands down, it was the most practical, encouraging resource we’ve ever received as parents. Three years down the road, we still regularly revisit the scriptural principles and tools we learned from the conference when addressing new challenges. Although we’re certainly not Super Bowl parents by any stretch of the imagination, we are raising our kiddos with a much clearer end zone in mind: We want our boys to grow to love Jesus and others with all they’ve got! That’s the “win” we’re working toward each and every day.

Sign up for the Intentional Parenting Conference on March 9 + 10 here.